It doesn’t make sense on several levels. One million air passengers have had their flights cancelled or disrupted because of fog. Fog is a dense arrangment of water droplets in suspension forming a cloud on the ground. Most of it, this time of year, is radiation fog, which is not radioactive, but caused by overnight radiative loss of heat from the ground plunging temperatures below the dew point so that water vapour then has to condense. But it is relatively opaque only because of our insistence on using human eyes to peer at it. There are several technological alternatives or supplements that can see through fog: using radar, infrared and other wavelengths. Indeed, using radio transmitting navigation beacons in addition to accurate GPS and computers, modern airplanes don’t need human pilots at all. There is no techie reason why those planes are not landing and taking off in fog. But most people feel safer if the technology is watched over by a human, who can grasp the joystick and switch to manual if something goes wrong. The fact that the human is more likely to go wrong than the new technology is ignored. Maybe after a few more days, the passengers sitting on the floor at Heathrow might have a change of heart. In the meantime why is no newspaper mentioning this aspect?
Talking of writing, I have a meet up tomorrow in Shrewsbury with dramatist and fellow BeWrite moderator, Donna Gagnon, and her feller, Doug. My wife is coming too, but not being a writer will probably say her hellos, realise my friends are mostly harmless and go off shopping.
No more news from FrontList. So I am stuck with only 3 reviews out of 5 for my Hot Air thriller. Could be that the fog or Christmas interruptus has slowed the reviewers.
Have a great Christmas, readers!
